Comments on: Red Flags for Female Characters Written By Menhttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/
How to write a superhero book, comic book or superhero novel and get it publishedThu, 17 Jan 2019 02:17:47 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.3By: Hogwarts is always there to welcome you home: General TipsJoss Whedon’s Top 10 Writing TipsGetting Out of Your… – Just another WordPress sitehttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2539840
Tue, 01 Jan 2019 06:48:50 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2539840[…] Red Flags for Female Characters Written by Men […]
]]>By: Art-chive tumblrhttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2533800
Sun, 23 Dec 2018 18:52:52 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2533800[…] Red Flags for Female Characters Written by Men […]
]]>By: Vixis Shiar'Delushttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2161257
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 21:34:27 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2161257When I say consciousness, I essentially mean a non-corporeal form of being. The reason I use the word consciousness instead of that, however, is because the non-corporeal part is only a temporary state of that species. They are able to transfer their mind between various objects and beings within a certain time of leaving their last host (or real body), and usually don’t find much difficulty in dominating the host.The being that takes over her body is from a completely different planet, so something like brain surgery wouldn’t work (and would get rid of her ability anyways). So in order to keep her under control while maintaining the usability of her powers, the main antagonist has the mind of his wife take over the body of the human.

As I said, they are not from earth, but can have bodies that can survive the massive differences between their world and the earth created for them (assuming they have the appropriate bio matter appropriated from dead or living beings on the earth). That’s not to say they take human form, they don’t (unless they need the abilities of a human). They’re much more comfortable in their six limbed, salamander-like bodies.

]]>By: B. McKenziehttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2160523
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 00:21:17 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2160523“Does a female fighting back against a force that is taking over her mind Dreamcatcher (Stephen King) style sound promising at all? From her viewpoint, the opposing force (another consciousness) is in majority control while she fights back from within… She uses her ability to make the second consciousness forget she is still in there while trying to figure out a way to gain control without getting herself killed in the process…

The use of her abilities is generally pretty straightforward up until the point that the bad guy realizes she has abilities and begins attempting to exploit them.”

What do you mean when you say the antagonist is a “consciousness”? If the antagonist is a human (or a mutant or otherwise has a body), I’d guess that “mind controller” or “psychic” would set up the conflict in a more straightforward way. Based on “consciousness,” I’m making crazy-ass guesses here about dream spirits and forces of (supernatural) nature.

(Also, AFAIK, a consciousness is just a state of awareness. Even if the antagonist is a dream spirit or something else that doesn’t actually exist in the real world, there might be clearer terms to describe it).
]]>By: Vixis Shiar'Delushttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2159303
Mon, 12 Sep 2016 14:33:53 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2159303The use of her abilities is generally pretty straightforward up until the point that the bad guy realizes she has abilities and begins attempting to exploit them. For example, when helping her husband escape the same people, she simply makes the guards in the area forget that they’re there for the time being and makes them think they’re guarding something else.
]]>By: B. McKenziehttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2158736
Sat, 10 Sep 2016 23:19:39 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2158736“…the bad guy leader decides to use her memory altering abilities to better manipulate those they intend to convert. She uses her ability to make the second consciousness forget she is still in there while trying to figure out a way to gain control without getting herself killed.” If you’re not already a published author, I generally wouldn’t recommend starting with memory manipulation because it’ll probably make it considerably harder for readers to keep track of what has actually happened and who thinks what has happened.
]]>By: Vixis Shiar'Delushttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2157347
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 15:52:21 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2157347Does a female fighting back against a force that is taking over her mind Dreamcatcher (Stephen King) style sound promising at all? From her viewpoint, the opposing force (another consciousness) is in majority control while she fights back from within.

She is initially taken along with a few others just to use them as physical bodies. But after she reveals her abilities by using them to help others escape, the bad guy leader decides to use her memory altering abilities to better manipulate those they intend to convert. She uses her ability to make the second consciousness forget she is still in there while trying to figure out a way to gain control without getting herself killed in the process.

]]>By: B. McKenziehttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2140588
Sat, 13 Aug 2016 23:27:55 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2140588VSD, the plotline here looks workable – my main suggestion would be focusing more on clarity and conciseness, especially when you’re trying to explain something to an editor or publisher.

One rewrite that comes to mind:

“Both the protagonists and antagonist use the love interest to gain information about the other. Initially she works with the antagonist on a corruption story that could help her relaunch her stalled journalism career. She starts falling for a protagonist while investigating his boss, and they save each other’s lives. She begins playing both sides, helping the protagonist to gain his trust and get information on his boss. The protagonists find out that she is working with the antagonist and fail to turn her against him. The protagonist she’s fallen for was actually playing her the entire time and abandons her. She reluctantly begins working with the antagonist full-time.”

That’d take down your wordcount there from 258 to 109, which I think would help reduce cognitive load on the editor.

(In real life, I’d probably cut further to buy space for the character’s actual impact on the plot — e.g. does the antagonist learn anything particularly important about the protagonists through this character, or vice versa? What sort of things can she do that make it important who she’s allied with?)
]]>By: Vixis Shiar'Delushttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2139853
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 22:42:23 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2139853The female love interest in my story functions similarly to Nina Sergeevna (The Americans) in that both the protagonists and antagonist are attempting to use her (both are trying to use her to gain information on the actions of the other), and she has consciously and unconsciously agreed to work with both. She initially works with the antagonist in an attempt to gain some attention and trust of the people (she is a journalist trying to start her own company after getting fired from her last job, and the antagonist offered information on a story that could bring to light corruption within the city), but later started falling for one of the protagonists while trying to investigate his boss (there may or may not have been one or two life endangering situations where they were forced to rely on each other as well). She began to play both sides, helping out the protagonist in hopes of gaining his trust and hopefully more while also trying to get info on his boss. After the protagonists find out that she is working with the antagonist, they attempt to get her to help them in their fight against him. She refuses, and the protagonist she tries to turn to for help in her confusion turns her away (the protagonist was seeing their actual lover, and had been leading her on in an attempt to use her connection to the antagonist). After this, she abandons the protagonists and begins working with the antagonist full time, though she does still question his motives.
]]>By: B. McKenziehttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2139515
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 13:45:13 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2139515“What I like to work with is comedy and action.”

In this case, I’d suggest against pitching as an action-comedy or a comedy. Comedy is an inherently hard sell for comics compared to more standard superhero action — on last month’s sales charts, I think the only comedies that cleared 3,000 sales were action/comedy Deadpool and the dark comedy/fantasy I Hate Fairyland. (Also, comedic series that sell very well tend to have relatively dark humor — e.g. Kick-Ass, IHF, and Deadpool).

For authors looking to write a humorous comic, I’d generally suggest focusing on some other genre (action in this case) and incorporating characters that are humorous, but not focusing so much on comedy that readers need to appreciate the humor to enjoy the story. If you are writing something focused enough on comedy that readers can’t enjoy the work without enjoying the humor, I think you’re in a tight spot unless it’s one of the funniest books on the market, which this isn’t — and that’s not a problem as long as you’re firing on other cylinders and are focusing your time/space/proposal on what is working.
]]>By: Andrewhttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2139340
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 08:35:54 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2139340What I like to work with is comedy and action. The comedy I would use is the verbal kind that would make the reader laugh when reading it. Like one character asks how their progress with a case is going and they respond “Like Star Wars’ recovery from the prequels” or when one of the females brings up the topic of women using sex to get what they want and saying males must do the same, a male will reply “Men have never needed to use sex to get what we want. It IS what we want”. There’s also occasional slapstick but not overdone like a certain animated DC show so bad it shall remain nameless. I also would use a little comedy for character interactions

But the general part is action with fight scenes containing martial arts and superpowers being used to take on the bad guys. As well as use of enviornment

And there’s romance in there, but not so much that the relationship is stuffed down reader’s throats that they immediatly demand the death of one of the characters. That’s what turns beloved character hated all around IMO

]]>By: B. McKenziehttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2139097
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 01:31:47 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2139097Andrew, how much does enjoying this work rely on enjoying the comedy? Do you plan on mentioning comedy/humor in the proposal? The comedic quality here seems like a long-shot.
]]>By: Andrewhttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2138707
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 14:20:19 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2138707The gag goes with different equipment

Weightlifting: The character possesses increased strength, lifting the dumbell above their head but not content. As panels move, you see two other characters putting more and more wieghts on each end until the lifter gives in and drops it right on the other two’s feet
Salmon ladder: Three characters doing it on three ladders. One’s struggling to get up while the others make it up but wonder how they’re gonna get down when they reach the top
Treadmill: Two treadmills, two characters on them and both increasing their speeds until one is shot off, making the other character gloat in one panel but tripping and falling off themselves. The latter trying to look cool by immediatly doing push-ups as soon he/she hit the ground
Wing Chun Dummy: Character hits it but it spins, hitting them back. Angered, the character hits it forcefully but the spinning parts knock them off their feet

]]>By: B. McKenziehttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2138269
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 02:32:06 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2138269“An idea I once had for a running gag was that while two or more characters are discussing the latest case they’re on, other members of the team are working out in the background…” Having teammates working out in the background doesn’t sound inherently very funny.

(Creative writing prompt of the day: come up with a concept for a scene where it is funny that characters are working out in the background).

…

Here’s my sample setup: The leader of a superhero academy tells a class of students that the lowest performer on next week’s physical conditioning assignment is going to sidekick for a super-undesirable partner (e.g. a casually psychotic Canadian with animal-like melee abilities and so many foreign substances in his body he probably counts as a mutant). A few scenes later, the crazy partner is talking with the academy headmaster as formerly unmotivated students — even psychics and superscientists — are desperately running laps like their hair is on fire. The stakes are life-or-death and they’re terrified of failure. The academy headmaster cryptically thanks the crazy partner for his part in helping motivate the students, but the crazy partner isn’t sure what’s going on. Crazy partner: “Did you give them my cocaine?”
]]>By: Andrewhttp://www.superheronation.com/2011/08/27/red-flags-for-female-characters-written-by-men/#comment-2124854
Wed, 27 Jul 2016 13:35:28 +0000http://www.superheronation.com/?p=11006#comment-2124854B. Mac

Noted. Just wanted them to be capable of taking and dishing it as easily. I’d like my characters to be equel hand-to-hand combat-wise. An idea I once had for a running gag was that while two or more characters are discussing the latest case they’re on, other members of the team are working out in the background (Weight lifting, punching bag, salmon ladder etc)